Research & Article

In the early 1970’s scholars in Bangkok discovered a musical instrument known as the bong-lang in the Galasin providence, located in the northeast of Thailand. The bong-lang is a vertical xylophone—a succession of struck hardwood logs each with its own pitch. Some scholars hypothesized that the bong-lang was possibly the long-sought ancestor of the horizontal xylophone (ranat) found in central Thai classical ensembles. This theory is supported by Galasian providence’s historical isolation until approximately 1970 due to poor roads, which made the region culturally conservative. This article explores this hypothesis, investigating the origin and lore of xylophones in Thailand. Research was conducted through interviews, examination of early descriptions of Thailand by Europeans and a comparative study of xylophones across Southeast Asia. The researchers’ findings suggest that the kaw-law and ranat are fundamentally different types of xylophones and do not appear to be directly related, although the kaw-law is definitively older. Rather, the immediate predecessor of the ranat is most likely the Burmese pattala. Furthermore, the article offers several possibilities to explain the origin of xylophones in Southeast Asia as a whole, suggesting Indian, insular, mainland or poly-genesis origins.